Shirred eggs at Ici
Have you ever had shirred eggs? I walked into Ici last weekend, after taking snow pictures in Ft. Greene, and "shirred eggs with bacon and greens" totally jumped out at me. Who does not like new kinds of food that one has never had? It is like Christmas on a plate, and as a person who does not celebrate xmas, I will take this instead. But shirred eggs are baked eggs, and when the friendly server told me that, I was sold. And boy, that was a great idea because shirred eggs at Ici will rock your knickers off.
As you can see from the picture, basically what they do is bake the eggs in a shallow dish. In this instance, they added some bacon and green leafy vegetables along with the eggs. The top of the dish had some cheese too that was baked and crispy. They must add something else in there because the dish was super creamy in the middle and there is no way two eggs would have that much egg white? And how do you get it so creamy and delicious? After the first bite, I made a note to eat this slowly and really enjoy it. The one problem was that the egg yolk is just super cooked through. Could they possibly separate the yolks then drop it in right before the egg white congeals? Probably not though, since those guys are cooks and they would have thought of that and I just eat.
Now I understand most of you will not travel all the way to Ft. Greene just to eat baked eggs. Maybe I will attempt to do this at home sometime this weekend and see what happens... but if you get a chance to have shirred eggs in your future, please give it a chance and let me know how it turns out for you. Are all shirred eggs this delicious?
And now for the irrelevant portion of the entry, and you can stop reading if you want. But since google keeps track of the users who come to the site, and their technical specs, I have come to realize some of you are stuck in 2005, and still use Internet Explorer version 6. Maybe you like IE, and hey that is fine; your cup of tea and mine are different. But look, Internet Explorer 7!!! Let me be the first to welcome you into the year 2008. Actually it is just me being selfish because I think the site looks horrible on IE 6. Oh and anyone use tumblr?
Ici
246 Dekalb Ave .
New York, NY 11226
718-789-2778
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Ahh, I love shirred eggs! Even though I've only eaten them once! -_- It's easy to make! I've never tried it, but I watched someone...make them for me. Heheh.
I HAZ A TUMBLR! Guess my URL! Woot.
Robyn
February 27, 2008 1:38 pm
Cheese? Egg? I'm sold! It looks awesome.
Agnes
February 27, 2008 5:10 pm
Do you read Gourmet? There is this fun article on the omelet by Francis Lam.
Jonathan
February 27, 2008 8:34 pm
Ici is good for dinner too!
Ang
February 27, 2008 11:26 pm
that looks so yummy =3
Kumi
February 28, 2008 1:05 am
Oooh, I'm craving for some shirred eggs after walking in the freezin' cold today!
Tina
February 28, 2008 2:50 pm
Mmm...love eggs! Amazing photos!
JEP
March 1, 2008 3:16 pm
yum, yum, yum. i have a friend who just moved to fort greene, we'll have to go here.
baked eggs + pork + greens = dreamy. a spoonful or two of cream in the ramekin with the eggs guarantees a warm creamy delight.
michelle @ thursday night smackdown
March 1, 2008 10:07 pm
Robyn,
Haha, watched someone make it for you? Well that has to be slightly better than making it yourself. And I guessed right!
Agnes,
Yes, you are totally right, anything with cheese and eggs is a winner!
Jonathan,
Sadly I do not read anything that is not displayed on a monitor.. I have to go look that up now. Is it from March?
Ang,
Oooh, maybe I will have to go back for dinner too.
Kumi,
Thanks! It really *was* yummy.
Tina,
Me too! Except the weather lately is all crazy and weird. Do you know where to get it in the city?
JEP,
Thanks! Glad you liked it.
Michelle,
Thanks for stopping by! There is also a great place in Ft. Greene called The Smoke Joint that has really good BBQ.
Danny
March 2, 2008 11:02 am
That looks yummy.I have been making a similar dish, it's not called shirred eggs, but looks very and sounds similar. My dish doesn't have cheese, but the yolk stays soft, maybe if you dont add the cheese the yolk wont get cooked.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/241180
Alla
March 15, 2008 4:21 pm
Hi Alla,
Thanks for the link!
Danny
March 16, 2008 12:40 am
There are many recipes for shirred eggs. It has always been one of my favorites, although I sometimes forget to cook it until something reminds me.
No one knows where the term "shirred" comes from.
I use a 10 oz. Pyrex custard dish; you can butter the dish or spray it with cooking spray to simplify cleaning it. Break three eggs into it and add a couple of teaspoons of cream, plus a grind of black pepper. Do not stir. Bake at 350 F for 15 minutes or a bit longer; the top will brown a bit.
Chop about 2 Tbsp of stuffed green olives (use "salad" olives; they are cheaper) and heat with 2 Tbsp of butter until melted and fully warmed through.
When eggs are done, use a spoon to make holes to take up the sauce, and then pour the olives and butter over the eggs.
Enjoy!
Invent your own sauces (I'll stick with mine); they should be piquant, as the eggs are mild in flavor.
This is from WW II, when meat was rationed, but eggs were readily available. The butter is a little puzzling, since that was heavily rationed as well...
I've heard that these were called "eggs Roosevelt" in derisive fashion blaming FDR for the rationing situation.
Doc
June 14, 2008 11:27 pm
The simplest shirred egg recipes don't include butter--just cream and eggs with a bit of cheese sprinkled on top. The butter could be a post-war addition.
Liz Lynch
October 18, 2008 2:07 am